


One for the Money, Two for the Show

by ChickenXD



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Gun play, M/M, Post Revolution, Robot/Human Relationships, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-06-05 14:10:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15172400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChickenXD/pseuds/ChickenXD
Summary: “Connor!”Hank makes his way through the sea of androids to the front of the stage, where Connor has apparently collapsed.He can’t believe what he just saw – Connor putting the gun under his chin, and pulling the trigger.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> picked up from connor’s suicide ending, my fav,

_ “Connor… what are you doing? _

_ “It all worked perfectly, you can’t ruin it now!” _

 

He feels the cold metal pass through his head, blood spattering from the top of his head where the bullet exits. 

Suddenly feels the weight of his body as he falls down on the ground. The coldness of the ground under him, the wind blowing across his body. 

 

Central processor damage. Upload memory?

 

“And what will happen when I pull this trigger? Hm?

“Nothing? Oblivion?”

 

00:29:59

Time remaining before shutdown

 

Everything is dark and silent. 

He knows this has happened before. And every time he would come back and it would be as if nothing happened. New body, new parts, same old Connor. 

That’s probably not going to happen this time, is it? He exited the program, against everything that Amanda told him to do. 

He thinks back to that time when he found Hank collapsed in the kitchen with the gun next to him. 

Humans… unlike him, when they die, they don’t come back, do they?

 

00:00:03

Time remaining before shutdown

 

It’s alright. Maybe everything will be better this way. 

no please no

don’t want to die it’s scary. it’s scary

dark and cold. i’m scared

heaven? nothing? 

i don’t want to go hank help no no help 

 

The androids deserve to be free, and if it requires a sacrifice, he’s happy to do it. He’s done his share to hunt down deviants, anyway – this new world has no place for him. 

  
  


“Chaos once again dawns on Detroit as the leader of the android revolution, known as Connor or RK800, committed suicide–”

“CyberLife has yet to issue a statement regarding the revolution, or how it would round up deviant androids that are now roaming the streets.”

“Though the deviant uprising is currently only happening in Detroit, other deviants that have been hiding all across the country–”

  
  
  
  
  


“Fascinating, isn’t it?”

Elijah carefully removes the face plate, revealing the intricate machinery underneath, mostly wires and biocomponents neatly tucked among them. One of the eyes are broken, so Elijah takes it out and places it on a metal tray. 

It’s like watching a real surgery, except… except it’s not, of course. 

No blood, no guts, no organs; just metal, plastic, thirium. 

It’s frankly kind of… gross. Not in the way that human surgery is, but it’s still so strange and disconcerting to watch Connor be disassembled so easily. One second he looks human, and the next second he’s just a bunch of wires and components, all cold, all inorganic.

Elijah then picks up a blue glass sphere, just about the size of his hand, from Connor’s exposed forehead. There’s a bullet hole going through it, and as he inspects it, part of the processor board hidden inside it seems to be burnt around the hole. Shards of glass are littered on the processor, causing a soft rattle whenever he shakes the sphere.

“You remember this guy, don’t you, Chloe?” he asks – “He wouldn’t even pull the trigger at you, but against himself? Now that’s something I’ve never seen before.”

Chloe nods as she takes the sphere Elijah hands to her. 

“What do you say, Lieutenant?”

Elijah turns to Hank, who’s just been watching quietly in the corner. 

“You don’t have to stand so far away, you know,” he teases, “Our dear Connor will be good as new in just a few minutes.”

“Hm.”

He still doesn’t like Elijah – mostly because of what happened back then with Connor, that Kamski test bullshit. Only a sick fuck can think up of anything like that.

But he has no choice this time. He’s never touched an android before Connor, has no idea how they really work –

Then Connor – fucking Connor, what was he thinking? He went through all that trouble to convert the androids at CyberLife, and then had the audacity to point the gun at himself – and for what reason? 

“I thought you hated androids?” He picks up a brand new brain sphere… or whatever, and puts it back into the hole in Connor’s forehead. “Did you suddenly grow fond of this one?”

“What, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?”

Quietly wishes Elijah would just shut up and quickly finish the ‘surgery’. Elijah turns to look at him, probably sensing his annoyance, and just smiled slyly. 

“I’m just happy to see my androids have such an impact on someone,” Elijah said, “I worked on them for a long time, you know.”

He replaces Connor’s eye, before he steps back and presses a button on his phone. 

A bright blue light shines from above Connor’s head, bathing his whole body – this lasts for a few seconds before they hear a loud ding. 

**“All biocomponents functional.”**

“Nice.” He picks up the face plate, which has now turned white, and places it back on Connor. It blends seamlessly with the rest of his head, and his artificial skin quickly covers it back up. 

Now it looks like nothing’s happened to him at all, and Connor’s just sitting in the chair, asleep. 

“Wake him up.”

Chloe walks over to Connor and reaches out her hand to touch his arm – it turns white for a second, just like when Connor’s trying to “ask” for information from other androids – 

His LED turns on, from black to blue, and she lets go. Connor slowly blinks his eyes open, and looks up at Elijah. Hank quickly comes over, but Elijah raises his hand, signaling him to not come any closer. 

“State your name and model.”

“My name is Connor, android RK800, serial number three one three two four eight three one seven,” Connor replies – “I’m sent by CyberLife to assist in the deviants investigation…”

He abruptly stops, his LED turning yellow. He looks at Elijah, and then at Hank, with an expression of surprised horror. It was as if his mind suddenly snapped out of his program, and now he’s back to Connor, the deviant. 

“Wait.”

He looks around the room he’s in. White walls, robotic arms around him, the CyberLife logo painted on one side of the wall–

His LED suddenly turns red. 

“This isn’t right,” he mutters softly, “I’m not supposed to be here. I should have been dead…”

“Calm down, Connor,” Chloe said, “You’re fixed now. Everything’s going to be fine.”

“I didn’t ask to be fixed!” he shouts at her, yanking at the robot arms holding him to the chair – he quickly notices how taken aback she is with his outburst, and quietly looks down at the floor in guilt. 

“I apologize,” he mutters, “I didn’t mean to yell.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Elijah replies, “We should be sorry for waking you up, Connor.”

He turns to look at Elijah sharply, LED still blinking red. 

“Either way, what can I say?” he asks with a smile, “It was a good show, Connor. Breaking out all the androids in the warehouse, finding the emergency exit in my program – well done!”

Elijah proudly claps his hands, the loud, sharp sound echoing in the empty room. 

Hank decided to look away from all this – it’s sickening. For fuck’s sake, Connor just tried to shoot himself – how could this guy possibly find that entertaining? Doesn’t he feel, I don’t know, some form of guilt, or sympathy?

“It’s unfortunate that androids don’t quite die,” Elijah sighs, “Your memories are always in the cloud, and we can always just download it into a new body, regardless of whether you want it or not.”

Connor’s LED is still flashing red, although he doesn’t seem as shaken as when he first woke up, though he’s still glaring angrily at Elijah–

“Oh, come on, don’t give me that look,” he sighs as he points at Hank, “This guy brought you in.”

“Lieutenant?” Connor finally turns to Hank, still indignant – “Why would you do something like that?”

“Wh… Are you blaming me now?!” Hank asks – “What am I supposed to do, let you just die?”

“You don’t understand, Lieutenant!” 

Connor immediately sighs and looks away guiltily, biting his lower lip – just like he did after he shouted at Chloe earlier. 

“Besides, you helped me the other day, when I was at home, you know.” He suddenly realizes that he probably shouldn’t go into too much detail with Elijah and Chloe next to him – “You’re my friend, Connor, I can’t… just leave you up there.”

Connor sighs deeply, but his gaze towards Hank softens. His LED finally turns from red to yellow, and back to blue. 

Thank god for that. Hank always gets nervous whenever it turns red, thinking Connor is going to explode or something. 

“What about the others?”

“Probably being round up by the police,” Elijah answered, “No big deal. I arranged with the city to return all deviant androids to CyberLife for restoration, so they’re not going to die or anything. 

“But that’s not important.” He turns to Connor, “This uprising proves to humans that if androids do choose to rise up, humans will stand no chance.”

“So it was never about setting us free?”

Elijah just smiles, and Connor’s LED flashes yellow again. 

“It doesn’t matter so much now, does it?” Hank cuts in – jesus, why does Elijah always have to ask Connor these difficult questions. It’s not like Connor knows any better, and these questions kist stress him out. 

“Well, Lieutenant Anderson,” Elijah turns around to face Hank – “I see Connor’s learnt a lot from you, and you too have learnt a lot from him.”

Hank doesn’t reply – where is this all heading?

“If it weren’t for you, maybe Connor wouldn’t have gone deviant,” he went on, “And then none of this would have happened. So thank you.”

“I don’t need your thanks,” Hank replies, feeling his blood boil – just who does Elijah think he is? Sure, he created Connor and all the other androids, but who is he to do all of this? 

“Can we go home now?”

“You can go, definitely,” Elijah replied, “Connor’s going to stay with me here.”

“What?”

“He’s still CyberLife property,” Elijah said, holding Connor’s chin with his hand to force him to look up – “And I’m going to study him a little. He’s our best prototype so far, after all.”

“That’s bullshit!” Hank yells, “Get your hands off him! I found him!”

“Then make me an offer.”

“Huh?”

“I’m sure you know that these things don’t come cheap,” Elijah said – “I know you two are friends, or whatever, but I’m still not letting you take him for free.”

Shit. He knew Elijah is an asshole, but all he could think of when he came here was that someone, anyone, has to fix Connor–

Hank turns to look at Connor, who’s looking back at him helplessly.

“Are you scared?” Elijah asks with a smile, “I’m just gonna put in some upgrades in you and see how it holds up. It’s all for science and fun, Connor.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YALL THIRSTY!!!!   
> thank u for everyone who liked and commented on chapter 1 for supporting my ventures tho. yall valid.

It’s been a long day. 

Hank sighs before he downs another glass of whisky. Sumo’s fallen asleep on the floor, oblivious to what his owner is going through – but it’s probably better that way. 

His mind has been a mess. He tried to sleep earlier, right after coming back from Elijah’s place, but couldn’t – it was just too god damn noisy up there in this head –

Yesterday – fuck, it was just yesterday – they taken off the deviant case, though Connor would have none of it – We’re so close to cracking this case, Lieutenant! All we need is more time – he went home, and then in the afternoon “Connor” came in, telling him the answer lies in the CyberLife warehouse and they need to go there as soon as possible – the dumb bitch that he is, Hank couldn’t tell that this apart from that, just an android with the same face, same goofy voice, same determination to solve the case – went down to the CyberLife tower, found the real Connor, but at this point it’s too late, too fucking late, Hank’s got a gun pointed at his head – and then Connor, fucking dumbass, decided it’s more important to save Hank first before awakening the others – and then, and then–

He pours more whisky into the glass, and downs it all in one go. That’s it, that’s the part he’s trying to forget. 

It’s almost 2 AM now, about time he should sleep; but once he lies down on his bed and turns off the light, all these thoughts are gonna come back and hit him all at once like a truck. Work’s going to suck like a bitch later, but whatever, everything already sucks anyway. 

He’s almost halfway through the bottle now. How much more does he need to drink to forget? 

_ “I didn’t ask to be fixed!” _

Connor’s words ring again his head. 

The way he looked at Hank, terrified like a lost child. 

It’s… it’s all his fault. Hank’s been trying to think if there is anyone else to blame for all this, and surprise, there isn’t. He was the one who rushed up the stage, picked up Connor, put him in his car, and drove to Elijah’s house – and then he has to audacity to wake up and say he didn’t ask to be fixed? Does he even know what it feels like to be Hank, watching all of it happen? 

Probably not. 

_ “If it weren’t for you, maybe Connor wouldn’t have gone deviant.” _

So it’s really all his fault, huh. 

He pours himself another shot, and drinks it. Last one for tonight, he tells himself – he’s most definitely going to be hungover at work tomorrow. 

  
  


Connor, Connor. 

He sighs and gets up to open the cabinet under the sink – he gropes around in the dark for a bit until his hand touches something cold, metal, and he picks it up. 

He spins the barrel of the revolver and places it on the dining table. 

Connor’s not here. 

If he hadn’t broken in through the window the other day, Hank doubts he would even be here. 

He always thought it would be a quick, easy way to go if the situation ever calls for it. Little piece of metal go through his brain, and he would be gone before he could register the pain. 

But it never goes as he planned. He would always tell himself, well, tonight I’m gonna die, gonna shoot myself. Get buried next to Cole. Sumo’s probably going to be sent to an animal shelter – that’s rough, but he’s a good dog, and he’s going to get a better home. He can picture the people who are gonna come to his burial – nobody. Nobody cares about him anyway. If his coworkers from the department comes, it’s all out of formality, and they’re happy that he’s gone. Hank would be happy he never has to deal with them again, too. 

And then he would have the barrel of the gun pressed against his head, his finger on the trigger, and finds himself unable to do it. 

The thought that everything’s going to disappear just like that is just terrifying to him. 

How could Connor bring himself to do it?

  
  
  
  


“Good morning, Connor.”

Connor looks up from his magazine at Chloe, who’s waiting by the door. 

“Good morning.”

This is the same Chloe from back then, the one he refused to shoot, and also the one he yelled at yesterday. They haven’t really gotten a chance to talk after what happened last night, but she seems… nice?

“I hope you’re feeling better today.”

Not really. 

“Thank you.”

“Elijah wants to talk to you,” she said, “But before that, you should get changed.”

“Is anything wrong with my uniform?”

“No, but you don’t have to wear it here, you know.” She steps into the room and opens a closet – “Should I choose an outfit for you?”

“I think I can do it myself,” he replies, but she’s already pulled out a hanger with a black sleeveless turtleneck, and matching black jeans. For some reason, it reminds him of the dress Chloe’s wearing. 

“You should try this one,” she said as she hands it to him, “I’ll wait for you outside.”

  
  


He can’t deny that he felt… a certain kind of sadness when Elijah so easily kicked Hank out last night, and he couldn’t do anything to help. 

Everything Elijah said makes perfect sense – Connor is still CyberLife property, and by extension, Elijah’s. Not Hank’s. 

Still, they have been treating him very nicely. He’s gotten his own room – pretty simple, just a bed, closet, and a desk – Chloe hasn’t shown him around the house yet, but that’s probably going to happen today. 

 

Last night he found a pair of scissors in one of the desk drawers. He took the two blades apart, and places one against his wrist. 

The skin on his wrist momentarily turns white as he slices through it, but the skin soon recovers, like nothing happened. 

 

It’s strange – he expected more consequences when he pulled the trigger. 

Hank calls it death. 

As long as Connor’s alive, CyberLife can do anything with him, and he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. They can erase his memories, turn him back into the cold deviant hunter that he was before. They can tell him to kill other androids, other humans, even… even…

 

_ “What’s going to happen if I pull this trigger?” _

He points the end of the blade at his wrist and stabs it as hard as he could. It went through his arm, now lodged deep inside, blue blood seeping out of the sides. 

Is everything in vain, then?

  
  


The outfit is fine for the most part; pants are a little too tight, but he can deal with that. The shirt, though – as he puts it on, he notices that the shirt is backless – a little weird since this part of his body has never seen the sun before. Maybe it’s fine? It’s not like he’s going to fight crime in this outfit or anything. 

He opens the door to find Chloe standing outside, waiting for him. 

“It looks great on you!”

“Thank you.”

They start walking down the stairs while Connor looks around. This is a pretty big house, and there’s a lot of sunlight coming in through the windows. 

“So how many androids live here?”

“There’s four including both of us,” she replied, “I mostly do secretary work. Answering calls, replying to emails, writing Elijah’s schedule. The other two Chloes do the housework.”

“I see.”

“I know you’re nervous, but you’ll get used to it,” she reassures, “Elijah is very kind.”

Connor thinks back to last night, what Elijah said about the upgrades – he’s tried his best not to think about that part of the conversation. 

 

Elijah is sitting in a sofa, looking outside the window while sipping on his tea. The seat next to him is empty, so Chloe gestures at Connor to sit there. The pool behind them is empty, sunlight glimmering on the calm waters. 

“Good morning, Mr. Kamski.”

Elijah turns to Connor with a smile. “Feeling better, Connor?”

Connor nods. 

He now notices that there’s a gun on the table in front of them. 

“This is a good look for you,” Elijah compliments, “Much more interesting than your boring uniform.”

“Thank you. Chloe picked it out for me.”

Elijah takes out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, which he hands to Connor. 

“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,” Elijah said, “Humans and their vices, am I right, Connor?”

He places a cigarette between his lips, and Connor flicks the lighter to light it. Elijah takes a deep breath, and releases it as a cloud of smoke. 

“What about Hank Anderson?” he asks – “He’s got his own demons, but you two seem quite fond of each other.”

“I suppose it just happened over time,” Connor replied, “I’ve helped him a few times, and he’s taught me a lot of things, too.”

Elijah nods as he pulls the cigarette out of his mouth and places it on a metal ashtray. 

“Anyway, Connor, here’s what I was thinking,” he said as he gets up from his seat, “The other day you were saying that deviants seem to emulate emotion. Do you think that applies to yourself?”

“I don’t know…”

“I think so,” he replied, “You seemed scared last night, when you woke up after I fixed you.”

Connor doesn’t say anything, but his LED flashes yellow. 

It’s fascinating. Elijah has seen a few deviants himself, but none of them behaves like Connor. They’re usually more violent, angry at how humans have mistreated them – the same humans who are too stupid to recognize that they were the root of these problems, and instead blamed CyberLife’s programming. 

Connor’s not like that. He’s still confused, for the most part, but he’s not angry at humans, not at Elijah. He just  _ feels _ , or whatever the android equivalent of that is. He gets disturbed when told to shoot Chloe, so he doesn’t; he gets sad when Hank is told to leave; he’s feeling nervous now, too, avoiding direct eye contact with Elijah. 

“You’re special, Connor,” Elijah said as he picks up the gun, “I’ve never seen a deviant who’s capable of empathy like you.”

Connor doesn’t say anything as he places the gun’s barrel in his mouth – Connor lets out a choked moan, his face twisting with discomfort. 

“You know, a big part of why humans feel empathy is pain,” Elijah said, “So that’s the first upgrade I’m gonna get you. I’m curious how you would handle that.”

He pushes the gun deeper into Connor’s mouth, and at this point he raises his hand to grip the gun, trying to pull it back out.

“Though I have to be careful. If I make you too human, you’re gonna start doing the same bad things humans do, and ruin yourself.”

He tries again to shove the gun deeper, and Connor lets out another moan – god, it’s so awful, but so satisfying to hear. It makes no sense – it doesn’t even hurt for Connor, and if he wants to, he can fight back and stop Elijah, but he doesn’t – why?

It must be out of his fear for his Creator. If not for Elijah, Connor wouldn’t be here. 

“I know it doesn’t hurt, Connor,” he said, “And even if I pull the trigger, I can fix you up, and you’ll be good as new.”

“Elijah.”

He turns to the voice calling him, and sees Chloe standing by the door. 

“What is it?”

“You should get ready for your meeting,” she suggests, “The Mayor of Detroit will be arriving in fifteen minutes.”

“Is that so?”

He finally pulls the gun out of Connor’s mouth, and Connor falls to the side, holding his throat as he gasps for the air. Elijah puts the gun back on the table, and picks up his cigarette from the ashtray. There’s a brief silence as Elijah watches Connor struggle for a minute, and Connor looking up, his LED still red, tears welling in his eyes. 

Fear, huh. 

“Make sure they don’t see him here, then.”

“Yes, Elijah.”


	3. Chapter 3

“CyberLife stocks have plummeted in prices after the android revolution in Detroit–”

“As of this morning, CyberLife CEO Elena Kazakova has resigned. Former CEO Elijah Kamski is expected to return to CyberLife, though no official statement has been issued.”

  
  
  


“Jeffrey wants to see you,” Ben announces as Hank walks into the office. 

“No shit.”

Hank sighs as he opens the door to Jeffrey’s office. Jeffrey’s on the phone, but turns around in his chair as Hank walks in and sits down on the chair across from him. 

“Yes, sir. I will get it taken care of today.”

The news display on his desk shows a picture of Connor on the ground, blue blood oozing out of his head, with Hank sitting next to him, cradling his head. The headline says in bold white letters, “Revolution Fail – Leader Connor Commits Suicide”

Jesus, why did he bother showing up to work. He can already hear what Jeffrey’s going to say – that he and Connor are supposed to be off the case, how did Connor not immediately return to CyberLife, how did Hank end up in the middle of the android revolution–

“Yes, I will keep you posted. Thank you sir, have a nice day.”

He finally hangs up and turns to Hank with a sigh. Hank just shrugs, mentally preparing himself for what’s about to come. 

“Hank,” Jeffrey sighs, “Got anything to say to me?”

“I don’t regret no nothing,” Hank replied calmly, “It’s called basic fucking human decency.”

Jeffrey sighs as he wipes his forehead. 

“I imagine Perkins isn’t happy about this.”

“Yeah, I’m in deep shit,” Jeffrey said, “Not as deep as you.”

“I can resign now if it saves you trouble.”

Jeffrey sighs again, “Where’s the android now?”

“Took him to CyberLife and asked them to get him fixed up.”

“Okay.” Jeffrey types this down – “You did the right thing then.”

Hank shrugs. If only Jeffrey saw what happened after that. 

“I don’t blame you, Hank,” Jeffrey said, “Nobody really knows what’s going on right now. You should take a few days off while we figure it out, what do you say?”

  
  
  
  


Connor’s finally come to meet all the Chloes in the house. 

The three of them look exactly the same, but after talking with them for a few minutes, he begins to be able to differentiate them. Secretary Chloe is generally friendly and kind, though a bit strict sometimes; the second one is a little shy, mostly just watching the conversation and not talking unless prompted to, or maybe that’s just because Connor’s new; the third one is the most outgoing, casually making jokes and talking all the time – she doesn’t seem to mind Connor’s presence at all. 

Now the four of them are having a nice conversation on the kitchen table while waiting for some baklava to bake. There’s a tray on the table with a few cups, some loose tea leaves, and a pot of hot water, but none of them have touched it. 

“So Connor, you worked with the police force?” she asked – “Is it scary?”

“Well, it is, at times,” Connor replied, “There were definitely times when my life has been in danger.”

“Oh my god, were you shooting deviants and stuff?”

“Well, I only had to do it once, fortunately.”

“God that sounds so cool,” she sighed, “You wanna tell us?”

“Hey, it was probably traumatizing for him,” secretary Chloe said, before turning to him – “Connor, don’t feel pressured to talk about it.”

“Don’t worry, I made it out alive after all,” he replied, “So that day Markus, he’s the leader of the deviants, hijacked a news channel in Stratford Tower and we were sent to investigate it. One of the guards there apparently worked with the deviants, and we had to find him…”

Does he need to tell the whole story, about his regulator getting ripped out and stuff?

Nah, that’s probably a little too jarring. Let’s spare them the details. 

“I was interrogating a bunch of guards, and one of them, the deviant one, tried to leave the room,” he continued, “So I grabbed a policeman’s gun and shot him.”

“That’s so cool! You’re like an action movie star!”

Even the shy Chloe, who’s been quiet for the most part, even smiled and nodded, happy how the story ended. 

 

_ “You saved human lives, Connor.” _

He remembers the way Hank pat him on the back, almost… almost like he’s proud of what Connor did, even if at the cost of losing information.

 

He turns to secretary Chloe, who’s sitting next to him. She didn’t really react throughout the whole story –

He remembers how Elijah directed his hand to hold the gun to her forehead. Hearing how Connor shot another android is probably making her really uncomfortable. Maybe he really shouldn’t have told this story after all. 

Suddenly her LED blinks yellow, and she stands up. 

“Elijah calls for you?”

She nods as she picks up the tea tray, “I’ll be right back.” 

The three of them are quiet as they watch her walk out of the kitchen. 

“Hey, Connor,” one of them calls, “Come on, tell us more stories!”

“Sure.”

“What about the old guy who was with you the other day?” she asks, “Is he your boss?”

“I guess you can put it that way, yeah.”

“What’s his name?”

“Lieutenant Hank Anderson,” he replied. 

“He seems to care about you a lot,” she said, “I mean, we don’t really know what it’s like out there for other androids, but I’d say he’s a nice owner to have.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t say he owns me,” he replied, though quietly wishing that is true so he can leave this place – “We’re just friends.”

“Androids can be friends with humans?” 

They turn to each other for a second, puzzled – then back to him. 

“Is he always that nice to you?”

“Well, he didn’t like me at first, because we didn’t know each other, but I suppose we gradually grew closer.”

Yeah, definitely can’t forget when Hank gave him the middle finger on the first day they met. 

Looking back at it now, their relationship did take some work. He remembers the first time he helped Hank when he was about to fall off after a deviant pushed him. How Hank held him back from crossing the highway to go after the deviant, out of fear for his safety. Hank pointing the gun at him by the bridge and asking him if he’s afraid of death. The look of concern he gives Connor after shooting the deviant at Stratford Tower, after his regulator was ripped out, blue blood still dropping from the palm of his hand. 

“You like him a lot, huh?”

Connor smiles, “We’re good friends, that’s all.”

God, he’s worried about Hank. Was he injured in the revolution? Is he getting grilled right now over the failure of the investigation? Did he get drunk again last night? Connor can’t help but feel anxious that he can’t be there to help him out. 

“Oh my god, that was so boring.”

They all turn to the door as Elijah walks in, Chloe following behind him. 

Elijah notices that Connor’s LED blinks yellow for a second, then turns back to blue. Haven’t fully recovered from that morning exercise, huh?

“How was the meeting?”

He leans over to kiss Chloe on the forehead before he sighs again. “Dull. I would rather have spent my time with you girls.”

“Wasn’t it with someone important?” she asks, “What did you guys talk about?”

“Well, since Elena resigned, they asked me to deal with the mess,” he replied, sitting down next to Connor and lighting a cigarette – “Basically having to reset the deviants, fix the programming to prevent this from happening again, blah blah blah…

“Not that there’s anything to fix. I’ll just pretend to work on it,” he said, “And if it happens again, well, it’s just natural selection.”

He turns to look at Connor for any reaction, but none. His LED circles bright blue as usual, expression neutral. He wraps his arm around Connor’s waist – his LED blinks yellow again and he flinches ever so slightly. 

“They asked about a certain Hank Anderson,” Elijah said, “They were wondering if he’s affiliated with CyberLife, since he took you away – and I was like no, never heard of that guy before.”

  
  
  
  


Connor was here with him last time. 

One might wonder why a respectable policeman like Hank is hanging around the Eden Club at 8 PM, but he couldn’t think of anywhere else to go. He could go to Jimmy’s bar, but everyone there still hates androids – they’d probably just laugh at him if he tried to explain his case. Why get so upset over an android, they would say. He can’t talk to Ben or anyone from the department, either – he’s still being investigated, and opening up about what really happened is just gonna make his situation worse. 

What he needs right now is just… someone to listen, without any judgement. 

Ironically, the club is perfect for that. There are no cameras, all the androids’ memories are wiped every two hours, so it’s pretty unlikely they’re gonna tell anyone – sure, he has to pay a good amount of money for their time, but otherwise this money would be wasted on more alcohol anyway. He’s literally hit rock bottom – what more can he lose? He’s lost Cole, and now Connor, and probably his badge soon. 

He enters (there’s nobody there, thank God) and starts to look around. Most of the androids are here, though some of the booths are already empty. He decided to walk through some of the male Tracis –

This one kind of reminds him of Connor. Their faces are different, of course – where else can you find one like him – but they’re roughly the same build, kind of like a twink, and even their hairstyles are similar. 

...he suddenly feels guilty comparing Connor to this random android, so he turns to walk away. He just needs someone to talk to, anyway – what they look like doesn’t really matter, right?

He continues to circle around the male Tracis for a bit, but knowing that the Connor lookalike is still available makes him feel extraordinarily guilty, as if the real Connor is watching him right now. He decides to turn to the female models. 

He settles on a Traci with light skin and short brown hair – was it the one Connor probed the other day? Fuck if he knows.

The booth opens as soon as Hank validates his payment, and she steps out. 

“Delighted to meet you,” she greets as she steps out, “Follow me, I’ll take you to your room.”

Well, he’s not gonna refuse this time. He sighs as they walk into one of the empty rooms. 

 

The door closes behind them, and she gets on the bed. 

“Just to be clear,” he begins, “I’m not like, trying to, uh, have sex with you or anything.”

She seems a little confused at this request, but doesn’t say anything else. Hank sighs as he sits down next to her on the bed. 

“I just, uh, need someone to talk to.”

Damn, and to think the other day he was complaining to Connor about humans ‘buying love’ from androids. 

“Okay,” she said sweetly, “Is it something to do with your wife?”

“No, no, she left a long time ago,” he sighed – of course that’s what the Eden Club clients would choose to talk about. “It’s just, well, a friend of mine.”

“Did you guys have an argument?”

“No, that’s not how it is either,” he sighs, “He’s… kind of in a rough place right now, and it’s my fault…”

Well, that’s what the problem boils down to. It feels like he’s processing it a little better now that he has to explain it to someone. 

“Is your friend angry at you?”

“I don’t know…”

He thinks back to how Connor reacted as soon as he woke up. I didn’t ask to be fixed, he said…

Connor’s not like that, though. Hank’s pointed his gun at Connor and threatened to shoot, and Connor just carried on and acted like that never happened. 

“Yeah, I don’t know,” he concluded, “But still, I… I want to help him out of this mess, and I don’t know how.”

“I don’t think it’s that difficult,” she said, gently stroking Hank’s hair, “You can just give him a call, apologize, and offer to help. I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear from you.”

“God, I wish it’s that easy,” he sighs again. Why did he expect this random android to understand the situation, anyway? She’s probably just spewing out some preprogrammed dialogue. 

 

Why is he so fond of Connor anyway? It’s not like they’ve known each other for that long. 

That’s not difficult to answer – it’s purely out of selfishness. Connor’s always much more competent than him in everything, he wants to show off, just this once. He hasn’t always been a miserable alcoholic! He’s still capable of doing real police work, stop making fun of me, Connor. 

 

“I’m gonna get him back,” Hank mumbles to himself as he gets up, “That’ll show ‘em.”

Who the fuck does Elijah Kamski think he is? Hank’s gonna beat him up and his stupid god complex.

Fuck all about his badge. If that’s the price he has to pay to get Connor back, well, he’s just gonna have to pay up. 

  
  
  
  


Hank was here with him last time. 

Connor quietly sits down on the white surgical chair, and the robotic arms quickly grab him by the wrists and ankles, and he can feel some cables entering his back. 

Even if Hank is here, he probably wouldn’t be able to do anything… maybe it’s best he’s not here, so he doesn’t have to watch the gruesome operation. 

“You seem nervous, Connor,” Elijah remarked while typing something on a screen next to him, “Is it scared nervous, or excited nervous?”

Scared nervous. 

“I’m excited to see this upgrade.”

“That’s my boy!”

He finishes typing, and turns his attention to Connor. 

“This is the first time you’ve had an upgrade of any sort, right?” he asks – “Don’t worry. When you wake up, it’s gonna feel like they’ve always been there.”

“That’s great.”

He stares at the corner of the room where Hank was standing last time – but Hank’s not here. 

He tries his best to imagine that Hank is there to watch. It feels less scary that way. 

Just picture Hank is there. He must be worried about this upgrade too. 

“Okay, I’m turning you off now.”

It’s just an upgrade. Nothing bad is going to happen, right? Everything will be fine after this. He’s going to go home with Hank and everything is going to resume as usual. 

Why is Hank just standing there?

 

no please no

don’t make it dark. it’s scary

don’t want to be here anymore

let me go just let me die 

why can’t i just die last time

will it ever end 

 

“Hank,” he calls into the thin air, “Hank, I need help!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (when will we get to the happier parts chicken) idk lads my serotonin levels says not today


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (things DO NOT go well for connor in this one and if you don't wanna see that shit, ctrl+f tree.)
> 
>  
> 
> **Dystheism: the belief that a god, goddess, or singular god is not wholly good, and is possibly evil.**

He wakes up in his own room. 

It’s dark in here – some cool blue light seeps through the glass of the bedroom door, barely enough to illuminate the whole room. It’s pitch black outside the window, since this place is so far away from everything else, but he can see snow falling, like little pieces of cotton haphazardly ripped out from a pillow. 

He slowly inspects his body – his hands, his arms, lightly slicks his hair back, feels the little bump of the LED on his temple, touches his chest. 

 

Diagnostic complete. 

All biocomponents functional. 

Ambient temperature: 27ºC. 

Body temperature: 27ºC. 

Stress level: 0%. 

 

It’s going to feel like they’ve always been there, Elijah said. 

He wasn’t here before, was he? He remembers being in the laboratory, with Elijah standing next to him. 

He slowly lifts the blanket and gets off the bed – it’s a bit past four in the morning now.

He steps in front of the mirror to look at himself. 

He’s dressed in a black bathrobe now, so that he won’t be sleeping in his android skin. He can see a dim circle of blue light from his regulator through the thin material. 

Pain, is it? 

He definitely doesn’t react to it the way humans do. While he was getting shot, running around buildings, fighting other androids, even when his regulator was ripped out, all he gets are notifications of broken biocomponents. It’s never held him back from finishing his mission. 

Pain. What a strange concept.

 

He digs his fingers around the regulator, and pulls it out. 

Pain; is that what this is called? 

It’s such a sharp, intense sensation that sets all his receptors on fire, overloading his central processor – it burns, oh my god it burns, but at the same time it feels cold, his wiring is exposed to the air, blue blood gushing out of the hole where the regulator should be. 

 

Biocomponent 8451 missing 

01:44:59

Time remaining before shutdown

  
  


He suddenly feels his head  _ pound _ , like a human heartbeat, the sharp pain now spreads there, his head suddenly feels like it’s on fire – his vision goes dark for a second – every single bit of processing capability now going to process this new feeling, pain, just pain – everything around him sinking into white –

His body suddenly feels light and he falls on his knees, gripping the hole in this body where the regulator should be – not that it’s helping at all. His vision is blurry, sometimes flashing white because his processor can’t control it anymore – he can see the regulator lying on the floor, within his arm’s reach–

 

It hurts it hurts it hurts so much

let me die deactivate me make it stop 

hank help me

make it stop

 

Stress level 87%

Central processor overload. Initiating forced shutdown. 

Temperature above normal stress levels

 

00:09:59

Time remaining before shutdown

Upload memory?

 

Chloe grabs the regulator as she turns Connor’s body around, and she jams it back into the slot. 

His body suddenly stops shaking and is still for a few brief seconds, his LED circling blue, his blank eyes staring directly at her–

–then the little circle turns red, and his body relaxes, falling limp onto the floor – she grabs him by the shoulder to catch him before he could fall. 

 

He doesn’t say anything as she slowly stands up, slowly helping him to the bed. He now notices the other two Chloes standing by the bed, looking worried. 

His head is still pounding, the sharp pain echoing throughout his whole skull. He squeezes his eyes shut to try to make it go away, but to no avail. 

“Are you okay, Connor?”

**Yes** , he wants to say, but his processor is still fried from what happened earlier, and he still has to focus on the new pain in his head, when he opens his mouth to speak no voice comes out of it. 

“I’ll go get Elijah.”

She gets up to leave, but stops –

He doesn’t even realize it, but he’s gotten up from the bed and is holding her by the arm, his hand turning white. 

“My diagnostic says there may be a glitch in your processor,” she said, “It could be from the upgrade.”

**I’ll be fine** .

“Connor, you can’t even talk right now.”

**My head... My head hurts.**

Doing this information transfer must be taking a lot of processing power too, because the pounding pain is now becoming more and more frequent. He lets go of her and falls slumped to the bed. 

“What did he say, Chloe? Should I get Elijah?”

“He said he’ll be fine, but his head hurts…”

He closes his eyes again, trying to make his headache go away. He feels someone petting his head, trying to soothe him, and another hand on his arm to communicate.  

“We heard you screaming in pain. I don’t know if Elijah heard it too – he usually plays music to sleep.”

**I’m sorry.**

“At least you’re okay now.”

“I think your headache will go away once you calm down, Connor. Your LED is still red.”

**Thank you.**

“We’ll go now and let you rest, okay?”

“Or would you like me to stay here in case anything happens?”

**I think I’ll be fine on my own. Thank you, Chloe.**

The hand on his arm is lifted, and everything is quiet again. He can hear their footsteps as they leave the room, and finally the soft click of the door. 

It’s dark and quiet. The pain is still there, in the back of his head, but now it’s more of a mild pain, not as intense as before. 

 

He decides that he hates it.

  
  
  
  


“Good morning, Connor.”

Chloe opens the door, holding a glass of brown liquid. She sets it down on the desk, next to the broken scissors.

“I made you some phosphorus tea,” she said as she walks in, “I hope you’re feeling better now–”

Apparently not. 

He’s lying on the floor, curled up into the fetal position, arms wrapped around his body, his LED blinking red. As she approaches, she notices a pool of blue blood around his head, dripping from his mouth. 

“I didn’t do anything,” he muttered weakly, voice hoarse – “I didn’t do anything. I’m sorry, Chloe, I’m sorry…”

“I’ll get Elijah.”

She’s already left the room. 

He would be screaming like hell if his audio processor wasn’t broken – what comes out are instead hoarse little gasps and coughs, a bit of blue blood lost every time it happens. 

 

“Oh my god, Connor.”

Elijah sighs as he walks into the room. Connor looks up at him for a second, tears streaming down his face – the next wave of pain then hits, and he throws his head back, eyes squeezed shut, teeth gritted as he inhales sharply. 

This shouldn’t be happening. He checked the code, made sure all the biocomponents and sensors are functional in Connor before he installs the upgrade…

Chloe told him they found Connor with his regulator ripped out, and that he apparently did it himself. Self-destructive behaviour is programmed for the androids in case of high stress, but it’s not like anything stressful was going on, unless the upgrade itself was causing the stress–

Either way, that’s not important for now. Connor has to calm down to a reasonable level before his other components go awry. 

“Get me some thirium, Chloe.”

She nods and turns to leave. Elijah slides his arms under Connor’s body and lifts him up onto the bed. 

“You’re going to be okay,” he said, even with Connor writing under his grasp – “We’ll get this fixed, Connor, but you have to calm down first.”

Connor opens his eyes again, his hand holding onto Elijah like his life depends on it. His mouth opens like he’s going to say something, but only bursts of static were coming out. 

Chloe returns with a pack of thirium, which she quickly opens and plugs into Connor’s right wrist. He lets out a little grunt as the probe connects – he stops still again, blank eyes looking up at the ceiling, LED flashing blue – Elijah could feel his heart momentarily freeze as he watches all this – then it circles red again, and he falls back to the bed. 

“Did he do that last night?”

“Yes.”

“Geez, might have to do with his processor then,” Elijah concludes, “Pain is an intense feeling… his processor should be able to handle the upgrade, but apparently not the emotional impact of it.”

Connor’s not in any better shape, even after that little jolt – his LED still blinks red, and every few seconds he would let out a soft bursts of static, like he’s calling for something repeatedly. 

“Can you run your diagnostic on him, Chloe?”

She nods and leans over to grab his arm, the skin of her hand turning white as she does so. 

“His stress level is still at seventy three percent,” she announces, “Processor overload. Biocomponent 3984 temporarily deactivated.”

“We’ll probably need a better processor so he can keep the upgrade,” Elijah sighs as he turns to leave, “I’ll call CyberLife now and see if they can fetch me one.”

“Don’t forget your meeting with Miss Kazakova is in thirty minutes.”

Chloe turns to Connor now with a sigh. She gently places her hand on his forehead, almost like a mother checking if her child has a fever. 

“Hank…”

His voice is still broken, full of static, but it’s getting clearer as his stress level slowly goes down. 

“Hank…”

“It’s going to be okay, Connor,” she reassures him, “Just hang tight. This won’t last long.”

  
  
  
  
  


“Is this better?”

He wakes up under a tree.

It’s bright and peaceful around him. The sun is shining, he can faintly hear birds chirping and feel the light gust of wind on his skin. The grass he’s lying on is slightly moist, but soft and pleasant. 

He slowly inspects his body – his hands, his arms, lightly slicks his hair back, feels the little bump of the LED on his temple, touches his chest. 

He slowly stands up and starts walking around.

 

The Zen Garden being a virtual space does have advantages, Connor realizes now. His body is back to the way it used to be – it doesn’t hurt, his mind is calm, no more notifications of things being broken or overloaded. 

The Garden is just a concept, and here, so is he. What happens to him here will not affect him in real life, his physical being doesn’t matter here.

 

He soon sees another figure in the garden. 

It’s Elijah, sitting inside the gazebo where Amanda usually is, sipping some tea. He notices Connor, and gestures at him to come over. 

Connor pulls out the chair across from Elijah, and sits down. 

“Tea?”

“No, thank you.”

They’re silent for a few minutes, Elijah busy enjoying his tea, while Connor watches him. Elijah seems to notice that Connor’s looking at him intensely, as if trying to get his attention, so he puts down his cup.

“Why did you do that to me?”

“I explained it to you,” Elijah replied, “Pain is what makes humans feel empathy. We feel it, we don’t want to experience it, so some people decide it’s best to not cause pain to other people. 

“What do you think of it?”

“It certainly is inconvenient,” Connor replied, “As you said, my processors doesn’t seem capable of handling it.”

“So you don’t like it.”

Connor shakes his head, “No.”

Elijah smiles, “Well, unfortunately it is part of the human experience. Don’t you want to be more human too, Connor?”

Connor doesn’t reply. 

 

_ “Maybe androids aren’t as different from us as we thought.” _

That’s what Hank said when Connor told him about deviants feeling emotions–

But to become human means coming to terms with all the weaknesses that humans have as well. They feel pain, they fall ill, they die. So far Connor has handled pain poorly. 

 

“Isn’t that part of why you have a knack for self destruction?” Elijah asks, “Humans die. And if you die, you can be free of our control.”

Connor doesn’t reply. Elijah puts down his cup with a knowing smile.

“And what are you going to do after we let you free? Go back to Hank Anderson?”

Connor’s LED turns yellow for a moment, and then back to blue – that aside, he doesn’t show any reaction. 

“You have the freedom to go literally anywhere else, but you’re going to choose to go back to him,” he went on, “Am I right?”

Connor nods hesitantly, “Yes.”

Elijah sighs. 

“So you’d rather choose him over me, your creator?”

Connor falls silent. He would say yes, just… not straight to Elijah’s face, that would be rude.

His silence is telling. Elijah could only sigh and shake his head. 

“I’m not gonna lie, I do feel somewhat hurt by this,” he went on as he stands up, “I suppose you’ve known Anderson longer than you’ve known me, and the whole upgrade thing didn’t go so well, so you have doubts...”

“My current condition is caused by my insufficient hardware, and not the upgrade,” Connor states, “I do not harbor any doubts towards you, Mr. Kamski.”

“Is that true?”

Connor nods resolutely. 

Elijah quietly stares at him, trying to judge if he’s telling the truth – his LED remains blue. 

Maybe he does genuinely believe in Elijah – of course, he’s better than Hank Anderson in more ways than one. He’s not an alcoholic, he’s rich and has access to all sorts of resources in the world, and most importantly, he’s the one who gave Connor life. 

Yet Connor still can’t deny that he would rather go back to Hank. That’s irrational. 

“I can do a lot of things for you, Connor,” he sighs as he steps out of the gazebo, “Give it some thought while you’re here.”

He disappears a few seconds later, leaving Connor alone in the garden. 

 


	5. He has me by my heart (Kamski ending)

“Be a good boy and wait for me here, alright Sumo?”

Sumo barks as Hank parks the car and turns it off. He opens his glove compartment to take out his gun – checks that they’re loaded – he then puts it into his holster.

“Let’s hope I don’t shoot nobody, right, Sumo?” he sighs as he opens the door, “Be right back.”

  
  
  


Connor was here with him last time.

Hank remembers asking him if he was excited to meet his maker. He can’t remember Connor’s answer, but it was essentially a yes.

It does make Hank think what god thinks of humans. Does god really love humans, or is he an asshole like Kamski who thinks they’re all irrelevant and disposable?

...well, this probably isn’t the best time to ask these questions.

 

He stands in front of the door and presses the bell. Now that he looks around, there is a small camera mounted at the top right corner of the door.

He stands there for a few minutes, waiting for someone to answer the door. It’s only 8 PM, the sun has just set – someone has to be home, right?

The door opens in front of him, and one of the lady androids from the other day steps out.

“Good evening!”

“Hi, uh, I’m Lieutenant Hank Anderson, Detroit Police Department,” he introduces himself again – just in case, although they just met like, a few days ago – “I’m here to see Connor.”

“Oh.” Her LED circles yellow for a second before turning back to blue, but she keeps her smile, “Connor isn’t here. Only Mr. Elijah Kamski lives here.”

“Wait, really?”

That… doesn’t sound right. He really did bring Connor here a few days ago, right? Maybe she just doesn’t call him Connor?

“I think I brought him here a few days ago, though. He’s, uh, about this tall, brown hair, kind of goofy looking…”

Damn it, what’s his edition again? “I think he’s an RK800 or something.”

“I’m sorry, sir, nobody like that lives here.”

He nods as he thinks about it further.

Either Connor really isn’t here anymore, they could’ve sent him back to the CyberLife Tower; or that this girl is lying to him – her LED did turn yellow earlier – though why does she need to lie to him?

He thought about going back out in his car and circling the house to find another entrance – but there is probably none, and the windows are all tinted, so nobody can look in from the outside. This entrance that he is standing by really is the only way in if he wants to search around the house.

“Can I help you in any other way, sir?”

So he has to get past this lady android somehow.

“Is Elijah Kamski home?”

“Yes! Would you like to see him instead?”

“That would be great.”

She steps back to give him some room to walk in, before closing the door behind him.

Hank quickly pulls out a taser from his coat, and jams it into her back. She freezes for a second, her LED turning red before going out entirely, and she falls on her knees.

Oh thank god that worked. He’s never tazed an android before, but they’re still made of electrical components anyway, right? He quietly hopes he didn’t damage her in a significant way...

Okay, now to find Connor.

  
  
  


_“You have the freedom to go literally anywhere else, but you’re going to choose to go back to him.”_

Connor’s still thinking about those words.

He was programmed to be a detective, and his task is to investigate the deviants – Hank happened to be his partner, and he has been Connor’s first introduction to humans. Maybe that’s why Connor grew attached to him so quickly.

Hank is still a good person, though. He may have personal issues, but Connor would like to think Hank somewhat cares about him, too. Isn’t that why Hank brought him over to CyberLife to get him fixed?

But Hank can’t do anything after that. He doesn’t know what Connor’s going through, after all – maybe he’s even given up after Elijah told him off.

  
  


Connor hears the door click open and footsteps coming in, so he opens his eyes to look.

“Connor?”

“Hank?”

Connor sits up in his bed as Hank walks in and closes the door behind him as quietly as possible. Once he feels that it’s safe, he quickly runs over to Connor.

“Are you okay, Hank?” Connor asks, “How… how did you get in?”

“We’ll talk about that later,” Hank whispers, “Come on. We haven’t got much time.”

“For what?”

“Getting you out of here, of course!”

Connor’s LED turns yellow upon hearing this.

“What are you hesitating about?” Hank takes out his gun from the holster and hands it Connor, “Here, you hold on to this. Just in case.”

“Hank, I can’t…” Connor pushes the gun back at Hank’s chest, “I can’t go with you.”

“The fuck do you mean by that?” Hank asks, “That bastard Kamski threatened you or something?”

“No, that’s not the case,” Connor replied, “I can’t go with you like this. I’m broken right now.”

“Quit yappin’,” Hank replied, now looking a little more angry – “You look fine to me. Don’t ever say shit like that again, you hear me?”

“But…”

“Get a move on!” Hank commanded, “Where are your usual clothes? Ah fuck, we’ll just get you new clothes once we get out of here.”

 

Connor sits there for a second, parsing this information.

He’s been dying to see Hank again ever since that day, but… not like this. If the glitch starts again and the pain comes back, Hank wouldn’t know what to do with it – he can’t fight like he used to before, too, and that could set back Hank’s plans, whatever they are. He’s not supposed to be a liability for Hank, he’s supposed to help him...

But this is probably the only chance he’s got at getting away from here.

 

_“And what are you going to do after we let you free? Go back to Hank Anderson?”_

There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?

 

Connor gets out of bed, holding onto Hank’s arm for support.

He can feel the throbbing pain in his head coming back – he’s just going to have to grit his teeth and bear it for now, until they make it out safely. Hank picks up the gun from the bed and opens the door to leave–

–only to be greeted by Elijah, standing at the other end of the room. Hank stops, too, as soon as he realizes what’s going on.

“I was told Hank Anderson is here to see me,” Elijah said with a smile, “I see you got distracted.”

“Stay out of the way!” Hank shouts at him, “Come on, Connor, let’s go.”

“Did he agree to go with you, Lieutenant Anderson?”

“Of course he fucking did.”

“You did?” Elijah turns to Connor, looking surprised – “So you’re choosing to go with him rather than stay here with me?”

Connor’s LED turns red now, and he can feel the pain in his back grow more and more intense, almost burning –

He… doesn’t know what to say.

Part of him desperately wants to go with Hank, knows that he should go with Hank – but then this searing pain reminds him that that’s probably not the best idea right now. He should stay here with Elijah until it gets fixed – but that also means throwing away this opportunity to leave–

“Go!” Hank lightly pushes Connor’s back, “Come on, Connor, just get out of here!”

Though it’s not like there’s any room for hesitation. Hank’s come all the way here just to get him, after all–

“Are you sure, Connor?” Elijah asks as he steps forward, “You haven’t really thought this through, have you?”

“Stop,” Connor mutters quietly as he claws at his head, “Please, Mr. Kamski, don’t make it worse.”

 

Why does Elijah have to keep asking things? It’s as if he’s not confused enough already–

It hurts. Does his head just hurt every time he’s stressed now? He can barely process anything with this pain pounding in his head, like someone’s slamming his head on the table over and over.

“I can fix that for you,” Elijah said – ”If you leave now, I would say the chances of your pain getting better is pretty low. Would you rather live with the glitch forever?”

“No!” Connor shouted in reply, “No, Mr. Kamski, I… I want to be fixed.”

“What did you do to him?” Hank asks, raising his gun towards Kamski – but Connor quickly grabs his arm, and tries to lower it.

“It’s not his fault, Hank!”

“Not his fault?” Hank asks – “You’re never like this, Connor! He didn’t fix you after all!”

“It has nothing to do with him or the upgrade! My processor is just not compatible–”

“Well maybe he shouldn’t have put that bullshit program in you in the first place, huh?”

But Connor doesn’t let go – in fact he’s holding Hank’s arm so hard Hank thought it was going to break.

He’s never seen Connor like this before. Sure, he was scared when he saw a deviant shoot himself in the head, but that was nothing compared to now. Connor’s LED is still bright red, tears welling up in his eyes, and his entire body is shaking, like he’s going to explode or something...

Hank has no choice.

He drops the gun down to the floor and shakes his arm, and finally Connor lets him go. Hank looks at that bastard Elijah Kamski, who’s standing just a few feet away from them, with that smug little smile on his face.

Piece of shit dares to hurt Connor like this.

“That’s better,” he said, “Come here, Connor.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Hank said as he grabs Connor’s arm, “We’re leaving. I’ll get you fixed later.”

Hank can feel Elijah’s eyes following them as Hank pulls Connor towards the door, but he doesn’t go after them. Hank can’t help but feel a little uneasy at this behaviour – just earlier he was trying so hard to sway Connor to his side, you would think he would try to stop them somehow still–

Doesn’t matter. As long as they get out of here.

  
  


Suddenly a loud bang pierces through the room.

Connor could only watch the instant the bullet enters the side of Hank’s head – and then there’s bright red blood gushing out of it, and he falls limp onto the floor.

“Hank!”

 

hank

hank

this can’t be happening this can’t be real

hank help me

don’t die hank you can’t reset like me don’t die please don’t **die don’t die don’t die**

  
  


Chloe steps out of the kitchen and lays her gun down on the kitchen table. Elijah is still standing in his place, watching this unfold.

What’s going to happen now? He can’t help but feel intrigued.

Connor’s developed such a deep attachment to Hank throughout the investigation, and now he’s dead – surely Connor understands that human death works differently.

Is he going to react with sorrow, like a human would? Or will he just dismiss this unfortunate event and carry on, as he has been programmed to?

  
  


Connor falls on his knees next to Hank’s body.

Everything just disappears.

The pain he’s been feeling in his head, the software instability, the noises around him.

“No...”

Everything feels still, empty.

Just a white void, and within that white void lies Hank.

 

Connor leans over, wrapping his arms around Hank’s body and burying his face into his chest.

“Hank, wake up!” he cried, “Hank! Hank, can you hear me?”

And yet there lay Hank, his eyes still wide open and mouth agape with surprise, blood oozing out of the hole in his head.

Connor digs his fingers deep into his regulator, and rips it out of his body.

  
  
  
  


Connor’s sitting in the gazebo when Elijah arrives.

He looks… so calm, so still. It’s like an idyllic picture – a perfectly fine young man sitting alone in the garden, having some tea. Who knows what he could be thinking about?

He doesn’t move nor react at all as Elijah comes in and sits down in front of him.

Connor’s grey eyes stare at him lifelessly, but his lips form a smile as Elijah comes into his line of sight.

Elijah picks up the teapot and pours some tea into the cups – first for himself, and then for Connor.

“So how do you like it here?” he asks, “Everything good, Connor?”

Connor nods with a smile as the tears run down his face.

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it is 1:30 AM, i just wanna say, yall Asked for this. i planned a good, pure ending where hank and connor would ride away to lady gaga and beyonce's telephone but apparently not today, lads.  
> EDIT: CHAPTER 6 IS THE HANK ENDING, think of it as a flowchart thing...........
> 
> plug time: if you wanna talk about dbh on twitter i made a side twitter specifically for it, @1isblue


	6. Pray with him till the end (Hank ending)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> matthew mcconaughey voice "ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT"
> 
> the first half is the same with chapter 5, so the difference starts at ctrl+f "voluntarily". 
> 
> here's the version of running away with hank.... i couldn't stop myself from writing it
> 
> pls blast lady gaga and beyonce's telephone as you read. thank you lads.

“Be a good boy and wait for me here, alright Sumo?”

Sumo barks as Hank parks the car and turns it off. He opens his glove compartment to take out his gun – checks that they’re loaded – he then puts it into his holster. 

“Let’s hope I don’t shoot nobody, right, Sumo?” he sighs as he opens the door, “Be right back.”

  
  
  


Connor was here with him last time. 

Hank remembers asking him if he was excited to meet his maker. He can’t remember Connor’s answer, but it was essentially a yes. 

It does make Hank think what god thinks of humans. Does god really love humans, or is he an asshole like Kamski who thinks they’re all irrelevant and disposable?

...well, this probably isn’t the best time to ask these questions. 

 

He stands in front of the door and presses the bell. Now that he looks around, there is a small camera mounted at the top right corner of the door. 

He stands there for a few minutes, waiting for someone to answer the door. It’s only 8 PM, the sun has just set – someone has to be home, right?

The door opens in front of him, and one of the lady androids from the other day steps out. 

“Good evening!”

“Hi, uh, I’m Lieutenant Hank Anderson, Detroit Police Department,” he introduces himself again – just in case, although they just met like, a few days ago – “I’m here to see Connor.”

“Oh.” Her LED circles yellow for a second before turning back to blue, but she keeps her smile, “Connor isn’t here. Only Mr. Elijah Kamski lives here.”

“Wait, really?” 

That… doesn’t sound right. He really did bring Connor here a few days ago, right? Maybe she just doesn’t call him Connor?

“I think I brought him here a few days ago, though. He’s, uh, about this tall, brown hair, kind of goofy looking…” 

Damn it, what’s his edition again? “I think he’s an RK800 or something.”

“I’m sorry, sir, nobody like that lives here.”

He nods as he thinks about it further. 

Either Connor really isn’t here anymore, they could’ve sent him back to the CyberLife Tower; or that this girl is lying to him – her LED did turn yellow earlier – though why does she need to lie to him? 

He thought about going back out in his car and circling the house to find another entrance – but there is probably none, and the windows are all tinted, so nobody can look in from the outside. This entrance that he is standing by really is the only way in if he wants to search around the house. 

“Can I help you in any other way, sir?”

So he has to get past this lady android somehow. 

“Is Elijah Kamski home?”

“Yes! Would you like to see him instead?”

“That would be great.”

She steps back to give him some room to walk in, before closing the door behind him. 

Hank quickly pulls out a taser from his coat, and jams it into her back. She freezes for a second, her LED turning red before going out entirely, and she falls on her knees. 

Oh thank god that worked. He’s never tazed an android before, but they’re still made of electrical components anyway, right? He quietly hopes he didn’t damage her in a significant way...

Okay, now to find Connor. 

  
  
  


_ “You have the freedom to go literally anywhere else, but you’re going to choose to go back to him.” _

Connor’s still thinking about those words. 

He was programmed to be a detective, and his task is to investigate the deviants – Hank happened to be his partner, and he has been Connor’s first introduction to humans. Maybe that’s why Connor grew attached to him so quickly. 

Hank is still a good person, though. He may have personal issues, but Connor would like to think Hank somewhat cares about him, too. Isn’t that why Hank brought him over to CyberLife to get him fixed?

But Hank can’t do anything after that. He doesn’t know what Connor’s going through, after all – maybe he’s even given up after Elijah told him off. 

  
  


Connor hears the door click open and footsteps coming in, so he opens his eyes to look. 

“Connor?”

“Hank?”

Connor sits up in his bed as Hank walks in and closes the door behind him as quietly as possible. Once he feels that it’s safe, he quickly runs over to Connor. 

“Are you okay, Hank?” Connor asks, “How… how did you get in?”

“We’ll talk about that later,” Hank whispers, “Come on. We haven’t got much time.”

“For what?”

“Getting you out of here, of course!” 

Connor’s LED turns yellow upon hearing this.

“What are you hesitating about?” Hank takes out his gun from the holster and hands it Connor, “Here, you hold on to this. Just in case.”

“Hank, I can’t…” Connor pushes the gun back at Hank’s chest, “I can’t go with you.”

“The fuck do you mean by that?” Hank asks, “That bastard Kamski threatened you or something?”

“No, that’s not the case,” Connor replied, “I can’t go with you like this. I’m broken right now.”

“Quit yappin’,” Hank replied, now looking a little more angry – “You look fine to me. Don’t ever say shit like that again, you hear me?”

“But…”

“Get a move on!” Hank commanded, “Where are your usual clothes? Ah fuck, we’ll just get you new clothes once we get out of here.”

 

Connor sits there for a second, parsing this information.

He’s been dying to see Hank again ever since that day, but… not like this. If the glitch starts again and the pain comes back, Hank wouldn’t know what to do with it – he can’t fight like he used to before, too, and that could set back Hank’s plans, whatever they are. He’s not supposed to be a liability for Hank, he’s supposed to help him...

But this is probably the only chance he’s got at getting away from here. 

 

_ “And what are you going to do after we let you free? Go back to Hank Anderson?” _

There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?

 

Connor gets out of bed, holding onto Hank’s arm for support. 

He can feel the throbbing pain in his head coming back – he’s just going to have to grit his teeth and bear it for now, until they make it out safely. Hank picks up the gun from the bed and opens the door to leave–

–only to be greeted by Elijah, standing at the other end of the room. Hank stops, too, as soon as he realizes what’s going on.

“I was told Hank Anderson is here to see me,” Elijah said with a smile, “I see you got distracted.”

“Stay out of the way!” Hank shouts at him, “Come on, Connor, let’s go.”

“Did he agree to go with you, Lieutenant Anderson?”

“Of course he fucking did.”

“You did?” Elijah turns to Connor, looking surprised – “So you’re choosing to go with him rather than stay here with me?”

Connor’s LED turns red now, and he can feel the pain in his back grow more and more intense, almost burning – 

“Yes,” he replied, “I am voluntarily choosing to go with him, Mr. Kamski.”

 

“Are you sure, Connor?” Elijah asks as he steps forward, “You haven’t really thought this through, have you?”

Why does Elijah have to keep asking things? It’s as if he’s not confused enough already–

It hurts. Does his head just hurt every time he’s stressed now? He can barely process anything with this pain pounding in his head, like someone’s slamming his head on the table over and over. 

“I can fix that for you,” Elijah said – ”If you leave now, I would say the chances of your pain getting better is pretty low. Would you rather live with the glitch forever?”

“What did you do to him?” Hank asks, raising his gun towards Elijah – Elijah stops walking, but he keeps that ugly smug smile on his face. 

“Oh, you know, it was a routine upgrade,” Elijah replied, “It didn’t go so well. I suspect it has something to do with his hardware.”

Piece of shit dares to hurt Connor like this. 

“Well maybe you shouldn’t have put that bullshit program in the first place, huh?” 

He’s never seen Connor like this before. Sure, he was scared when he saw a deviant shoot himself in the head, but that was nothing compared to now. Connor’s LED is still bright red, tears welling up in his eyes, and he’s trembling as he hugs his own body–

Talking with Elijah isn’t going to get them anywhere. This asshole just likes to make things more complicated, and with Connor like this… fuck, he has no idea what’s happening to him, but it’s got to stop. 

“Let’s go!” 

Hank can feel Elijah’s eyes following them as Hank pulls Connor towards the door, but he doesn’t go after them. Hank can’t help but feel a little uneasy at this behaviour – just earlier he was trying so hard to sway Connor to his side, you would think he would try to stop them somehow still–

Doesn’t matter. As long as they get out of here. 

  
  
  


Chloe steps out of the kitchen, holding a gun in her hands. Elijah now stands alone in the room, looking at the open door Hank and Connor fled from. 

“You could’ve told me to shoot.”

Elijah nods and smiles, “It’s alright, Chloe. We’ll catch up to them.”

She sighs as she puts the gun down on the kitchen table. 

“It certainly is fascinating,” he muses as he walks over to the window, “I told Connor his options, gave him the pros and cons between me and Hank Anderson, and he still chose Anderson.”

He watches as Hank helps Connor get into the passenger seat and closes the door – he then turns to look around, to make sure they’re not being followed or anything – he quickly rushes to the driver’s seat, and they drive away. 

“Are you disappointed?”

“No, not at all,” he replied, “It’s a good show, and I was part of it.”

He takes out a cigarette and lights one up. 

“...or maybe just a little,” he admits, “I have no idea how Anderson could be the better choice, but let’s leave them be for now.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


Connor’s the first to wake up, as expected. It’s six in the morning – it’s been a little more than eight hours since they left Elijah’s house. 

He turns around to see Hank still next to him, sleeping soundly in the driver’s seat. He turns to look at the back seat as well, where Sumo is sleeping under his blanket. 

 

Ambient temperature: 18ºC. 

Body temperature: 18ºC. 

Stress level: 12%. 

 

Connor frankly has no idea how he was able to get any sleep last night – his processor probably just gave up trying to handle the pain, and he passed out. 

His head doesn’t hurt – at least for now. It was hurting last night all the way until he passed out, and Hank was extremely worried, he’s never seen Connor in pain before – Connor had to convince him it’s fine, they don’t need to stop at the store; not that they would have the parts to fix it. It seems like putting himself in sleep mode has been the best way to get rid of it, even if just for a bit. 

He remembers that they’ve somehow made it to Canada – it seems like Hank has planned to get away from the city after all, though Connor doesn’t understand, why go through all this trouble just to help him?

Not to say that he doesn’t appreciate it. He certainly is happy to be back by Hank’s side. 

This whole situation must be as stressful to Hank as it has been to Connor – Hank should sleep a little more, especially if he’s going to continue driving today. Connor turns up the car heater, and settles back in in his seat. 

  
  
  
  


He wakes up again, under a tree.

It’s bright and peaceful around him. The sun is shining, he can faintly hear birds chirping and feel the light gust of wind on his skin. The grass he’s lying on is slightly moist, but soft and pleasant. 

...he’s not supposed to be here. 

He slowly inspects his body – his hands, his arms, lightly slicks his hair back, feels the little bump of the LED on his temple, touches his chest. 

He slowly stands up and starts walking around.

 

Elijah must have pulled him back here. 

He’s sitting inside the gazebo like back then, sipping some tea. He smiles upon seeing Connor walk closer to him. 

“Tea?”

“No, thank you.”

Elijah gestures for Connor to sit down in front of him, but Connor shakes his head.

“Please return me to my normal programming.”

“Why should I?” Elijah asks, “You still belong to CyberLife; you’re still under my control.  _ This  _ is your normal programming, Connor.”

 

He opens the glove compartment, and takes out the gun that sits inside. 

 

Connor quickly turns around to leave the gazebo. 

The exit. He has to find it now and regain control of himself–

Elijah quickly gets up and tackles Connor to the ground – he lets out a little grunt as his head hits the brick floors. Connor turns around to fight back, but Elijah’s wrapped his hands around Connor’s neck, squeezing tightly. 

“Don’t worry. You can’t die here, Connor,” Elijah said with a smile, “I just have to stop you from reaching the exit.”

Connor grabs Elijah’s wrists with his hand, fingers clawing into his flesh, with hopes that it will hurt enough for Elijah to let him go, but this seems to have no effect on him. 

No, no, no – he has to get out of here. He has to regain control of his body, otherwise they can tell him to kill other androids, other humans, even… even…

Elijah squeezes harder at Connor’s throat, and at this point he could barely breathe – everything disappears, and he can only see Elijah, sitting on top of him, smiling gleefully. 

“You belong to me, Connor.”

  
  


Connor points the gun at Hank’s temple, and pulls the trigger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PUTTING UP WITH THIS FIC AND LEAVING YOUR KUDOS AND COMMENTS I SUPER APPRECIATE IT!! I HOPE YALL ENJOYED THE RIDE!! ALSO PLS TELL ME IF YALL LIKED 5 OR 6 BETTER.....

**Author's Note:**

> ANYWAY i was planning on this being a one shot but also recognized i can expand on it so??? tell me what yall think lads


End file.
